Total No of Rhinos slaughtered in South Africa to Dec 31st 2017 = 1028. Official figures. Read my blog below for Headlines from around the World concerning the Global Catastrophe that is causing the biggest mass extinction since the Permian Period, and News of the fight to stop the slaughter of the Planet's Wildlife before it is too late.

Nature Explored

Friday, 13 June 2014

African Parks has intensified its anti-poaching efforts in eastern DRC to counter the poaching onslaught that has beset Garamba National Park in the past two months. A total of 68 elephants have been poached since mid-April, representing about 4% of the total population.

In mid-May, African Parks reported that 33 elephants had been killed in the five weeks prior, indicating a concerted attack on the park’s elephant population.

Despite intensified anti-poaching efforts since then, the total has risen to 68 elephants in the past two months, at least nine of them shot from a helicopter. On one occasion hand grenades were used against the Park’s rangers by Sudanese poachers. For the first time the brains of elephants have also been removed, together with tusks and genitals.

African Parks’ investigations have revealed that the poaching is emanating from four different sources: Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) insurgents, armed groups from South Sudan, poachers operating from a helicopter, and renegade members of the Congolese Armed Forces (FARDC).

Wednesday, 4 June 2014

A Kenya Wildlife Service Ranger attached to Ol Jorgi Ranch in
Laikipia North Sub-county was shot dead by suspected
poachers on Monday night. Paul Harrison Lelesepei, 25 was with other rangers guarding the sanctuary when they were attacked by suspected rhino poachers.
According to the KWS senior warden in charge of Mountain region
Aggrey Maumo, the rangers were patrolling the ranch at the border with
Loldaiga hill ranch when they were apprehended by the poachers. Maumo
said there was a gun battle and the ranger was shot and died while being
taken to Nanyuki Teaching and Referral Hospital. The Director said there were two gangs of poachers in and
around the ranch that night.
"One gang was inside the ranch already while another was outside. Our
rangers had no information about the other gang that was inside and
were caught unawares during the shootout with the other that was
outside" Maumo said. The poachers managed to flee without any arrest
made so far, with Maumo saying that they have leads. He said that all
rhino sanctuaries in Laikipia have become a target for poachers with Ol
Jorgi experiencing several attacks where five rhinos have been killed in
the past six months.

Tuesday, 3 June 2014

Hong Kong Customs authorities have seized just over one ton of
pangolin scales from a shipping container which arrived from South
Africa.

This is the second interception in Hong Kong of a shipment of
pangolin scales from the African continent in just eight months,
following the seizure of 320 kilograms of pangolin scales in October
2013. In this case, 40 bags totaling 1 000 kilograms of pangolin scales
were detected in a container (declared as “plastic pet”) at the Kwai
Chung cargo examination compound. While the scales are presumably those
of African pangolins, the precise species is not known at this time.

In 2013, an estimated 8125 pangolins were confiscated in 49 instances of illegal trade across 13 countries.